I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 138: There are many ways to live and many ways to die
Compared with "Secret" and "Oyako-chan", Rinko Matsubara prefers "Childhood Friends" written by Mayumi Aso, who is also a woman.

The novel tells a hazy first love story that takes place in Yoshiwara red-light district.

Huajie is a unique product of the Taisho and Meiji periods, a bit like the ancient Jiaofangsi next door.

The heroine of the novel, Midori, is the sister of a prostitute and has an innocent personality.

The male protagonist Xinru is the son of the abbot of the temple and has a quiet and introverted personality.

The boy and girl were just beginning to fall in love and had deep admiration for each other, but the difference in their status meant that their love was destined to end in failure.

When reading this novel, Rinko Matsubara smelled a hint of Mr. Kitagawa.

Using romance stories as a cover to express some life philosophies or reflect the current social situation is a unique writing style pioneered by "Hear the Wind Sing".

Since reading "South of the Border, West of the Sun", Rinko Matsubara began to pay attention to and get in touch with pure literature. The more she learned, the more she admired and worshipped Mr. Kitagawa.

This article "Childhood Sweethearts" has a similar flavor, which instantly elevates a novel that seems to be just about love to the level of social literature.

"This time there's really going to be a big problem." Muramatsu Tomoshi poured himself a glass of sake, drank it all, and his eyes returned to the "Literature and Art" magazine.

The result of the editorial department's previous discussion was that it would be difficult for "Wenyi" to reverse its decline relying on Kitagawa Hide's own efforts.

Now, "Wenyi" has published three new novels at once, and they are all enough to crush those works shortlisted for the joint essay contest.

So what are the advantages of "Group Portrait"?
"What's wrong? Youshi-kun." Seeing his worried expression, Rinko Matsubara couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Muramatsu Tomoshi sighed and briefly told her that the joint essay contest might become a joke.

We worked hard to recruit a bunch of writers, and together with Bungeishunju, we created such a big momentum for the writing competition that the works that were finally shortlisted were all written by famous veteran writers.

But it would be funny if the final sales feedback was not as good as that of "Wenyi", which published works by several unknown "vulgar writers"!

"This matter shouldn't affect you, Tomoshi-kun, right?" Rinko Matsubara didn't care whether Kodansha and Bungeishunju made a fool of themselves or not, she only cared about Muramatsu Tomoshi.

Muramatsu Tomoshi shook his head and smiled, "It has nothing to do with me. The joint essay project is in charge of Chief Editor Kashiwamura and Chief Editor Noma. I was suspended from work, so I didn't participate at all."

"And they didn't want me to share the credit in the first place," he added, feeling lucky that this was a blessing in disguise.

The only regret is that I was unable to convince Mr. Kitagawa, otherwise this article "South of the Border, West of the Sun" might have been serialized in "Gun Portrait".

Thinking of this novel, he immediately lowered his head and started reading "Wenyi". After reading it last time, he had been itching to read it, and Teacher Beichuan was unwilling to spoil the ending, so this time he could finally read it to his heart's content.

The plot of the novel begins with "Chu"'s first blind date.

As expected, the blind date failed even though the other party was a lame girl like Shimamoto.

Muramatsu Tomoshi never expected that "Hatsu" would finally choose to marry an ordinary woman.

the reason is simple.

The other party's father is the general manager of a construction company and is rich and powerful.

After getting married, with the help of his father-in-law, "Chu" soon had his own jazz bar, villa, real estate, and luxury cars. At that age, he was far ahead of his peers and became a social elite that everyone envied.

A wealthy family, a sensible wife, an obedient daughter, everything seems so beautiful.

Then, as I watched, the familiar Kitagawa Hidefu appeared again!

The cousin of my high school girlfriend Quan, the woman with whom Chu had a relationship, suddenly died.

It is sad that he died inexplicably at the age of 36.

Her death also made Chu start to think about the meaning of life and what death is.

Mr. Kitagawa’s books like to explore the concept of “death”.

This has been the case since the "Youth Trilogy" and reached its peak in "No Longer Human".

This time, Muramatsu Tomomi saw another description of death in the book "Border".

"When it rains, the flowers bloom; when it doesn't, they wither. Insects are eaten by lizards, and lizards are eaten by birds. They all die and become dry, empty shells. When one generation dies, the next generation takes its place. This is an iron law.

There are many ways to live and many ways to die, but it’s no big deal.

All that is left is the desert, and the only thing that is truly alive is the desert.”

Muramatsu Tomoshi chewed over these words over and over again, the look in his eyes constantly changing.

Death, dying, no big deal.

The only thing that lives is the desert.

There was a feeling of suffocation coming over me.

He paused for a long time before he came to his senses, then continued reading impatiently.

Shimamoto showed up again.

Just like her mysterious disappearance in junior high school, her appearance was so sudden.

When the two met again, they were like close friends who had never separated, still close and familiar.

When they were parting, Shimamoto suddenly invited "Hatsu" and hoped that he could accompany him to Ishikawa Prefecture to see a river.

When he read this, Muramatsu Tomo's heart was pounding and he unconsciously looked up at Matsubara Rinko sitting opposite him.

Coincidentally, she also looked up at herself.

Muramatsu Tomoshi suddenly had an inexplicable feeling. He felt that Rinko must have seen this as well.

Neither of them spoke, but continued reading.

Then I saw the most important plot in "Border".

On the way back, Shimamoto suddenly had an unknown illness. He kept wheezing strangely, his cheeks were pale, and his eyes were cold and dim, as if he was about to die.

The panicked "Chu" found the medicine at the last moment, held a hard block of snow in his mouth, let it melt into snow water, and then fed the medicine mouth-to-mouth, and finally came back to life.

After recovering, the first thing Shimamoto said was an apology.

She lowered her head humbly, like a child who had made a mistake.

"Chu Jun, I definitely didn't do this to delay the flight. I really didn't mean it."

Of course she didn't mean it.

Muramatsu Tomoshi looked at Kitagawa Hide's words. Looking at the scene of death, it was obvious that Shimamoto had really been to the gates of hell.

But after she came back to life, what she cared about was not death, but the mood of her lover.

that moment.

Muramatsu Tomoshi feels that he is the "first".

He understood that if he asked Shimamoto to stay and not return to Tokyo tonight, the other party would definitely agree decisively.

Matsubara Rinko, who was sitting opposite, also saw this scene. She truly understood Shimamoto's feelings, and she must have wanted to stay and be with "Hatsu" very much.

But at the end of this chapter, for the sake of his wife and his originally happy family, "Hatsu" resolutely chose to take Shimamoto on a plane back to Tokyo.

He took her home, just as he had done when she was twelve.

Just as he was getting off the bus, Shimamoto suddenly turned around, not daring to look at "Hatsu", but suddenly said, "Hey, Hatsu-kun, at that time I was actually thinking, it would be great if I could miss the plane."

The novel ends abruptly again.

Attached at the end is a brief interview with Kitagawa Hide, in which he says that the next issue of "Wenyi" will complete the serialization of "National Border".

The long-awaited ending of "Hatsu" and Shimamoto will also be revealed.

Muramatsu Tomoshi suddenly looked up and once again met Matsubara Rinko's eyes.

This time, both of them looked evasive and uneasy.

It was obvious that Kitagawa Hide's attitude towards extramarital affairs was not what they expected.

Thinking about the several times he went to the cafe before, Kitagawa Hide had been hoping, overtly and covertly, that he could find a good balance and not get too involved and ruin his two originally happy families.

Muramatsu Tomoshi felt ashamed and embarrassed.

"Youshi-kun, I want to listen to "South of the Border" again. Will you accompany me?" Rinko Matsubara asked in a low voice.

Muramatsu Tomoshi nodded. He remembered that there was a record store nearby, but he didn't know if it was closed.

The two paid the bill and walked to the other side of the street under the moonlight. Sure enough, the record store they remembered was still open.

The two walked in quickly, and there were almost no customers in the store.

Rinko Matsubara came to the shelf, found the limited edition CD, picked up the audition machine and put it on.

Before the melodious music, the weathered English monologue sounded first.

She slowly closed her eyes, enjoying the song.

After watching the latest song "Border", Rinko Matsubara felt that she could understand the true emotions contained in the song.

I listened like this, I don't know how many times, until the audition machine on my ear was suddenly taken off.

She turned around blankly and found that it was Muramatsu Tomoshi, with the shop owner looking apologetic behind him.

"Rinko." Muramatsu Tomoshi had already packed two records.

"Youshi-kun, let's go back to Tokyo today!" Rinko Matsubara suddenly said.

2 month 19 day.

Kitagawa Hide received a call from Saito Rena. On the day of its release, "Wenyi" sold about 5 copies, which was a mediocre result, not much different from the previous issue.

The final sales volume of the January issue of "Wenyi" has also been counted, which is 1 copies, slightly less than the 63.1 copies of "Qunxiang". As for "Literary World", because of the new works of many "upper-class writers", the sales volume suddenly reached 65.4 copies, catching up with the 87.1 copies of "Xinchao".

Shizuko Kawaide was very acceptable to this result, but she had already set a new sales target of 100 million copies by mistake. Compared with the new target, the completion rate of more than % was a bit average.

Therefore, the entire editorial department of "Wenyi" was somewhat depressed.

They put a lot of effort and hard work into the February issue of "Wenyi", but the first publication date was almost the same as the January issue, which hit them hard.

But Kitagawa Hide firmly believes that this is because word of mouth has not yet fermented. After all, Mayumi Aso and the other three are pure "vulgar writers". If three new novels by such authors are suddenly serialized, readers will definitely stand idly by for a while.

The situation at "Literary World" and "Group Portrait" is very good. They sold about 1 more copies on the first day of printing than last month, which made "Wenyi" even more anxious.

In this atmosphere, about a week after the three magazines were released, the situation suddenly reversed!
More and more people began to discuss the three new novels including "The Secret", and compared them with the novels shortlisted for the joint writing competition.

They are all novels with social themes and are on the same track, so it is easy to compare them.

Waves of discussion have also emerged on the Internet.

"The Secret" became the most discussed novel in February except for "Border".

The gimmick of the wife and daughter exchanging bodies and souls was indeed ahead of its time and immediately attracted a large number of new readers to come and discuss.

Ethical issues are also relatively acute social issues.

Everyone argued endlessly about whether Naoko should live as a wife or as a daughter.

In comparison, the best essay in the joint essay contest, "Five Bodies Are Not Satisfied," seems too empty.

The struggle history of people with disabilities is indeed a good bowl of chicken soup.

But the Japanese in this era just want to vent the depression in their hearts and don’t want to drink chicken soup anymore.

Moreover, the plot of this novel is really boring. Just like the cookie-cutter campus baseball dramas, readers can guess the subsequent plot with their eyes closed.

How boring!

There are many readers like Rinko Matsubara who are more touched by the song "South of the Border" because of the latest serialized plot.

Gene's two new albums are selling very well.

The regular re-recorded version sold 3.2 copies in a single day, and the limited edition sold 2.1 copies in a single day, which directly ranked 49th and 71st on the singles daily sales chart!
This is American country jazz from the 30s. It was not well accepted in Japan, but it managed to top the charts. It's no exaggeration to say it's a miracle.

The limited edition included Gene's strong praise for "South of the Border, West of the Sun", which naturally attracted a group of curious record listeners to read the literary magazine.

end of June.

Saito Rena excitedly rushed to "Peter Cat" with the freshly-made data sheet.

As soon as he saw that she was not swollen, Kitagawa Hide knew that she was safe.

"Teacher Saito, what's going on?"

Mayumi Aso and the others were worried that they had failed to help Kawaide Shobo and instead had the opposite effect.

Saito Reina sat down and gulped down a glass of Cuba Libre, then smiled and nodded, "Total sales in 10 days are about 65.3 copies. Judging from the trend, it is very likely that we will sell 100 million copies in a single month!"

"Haha, that's great! I don't have to worry about being abandoned by the publishing house again." Dangui Shirou's heart finally settled down.

Keigo Higashino, who was always depressed, also smiled. He had received quite a few letters from readers recently. Since his debut in 1985, a full ten years later, the number of letters from readers he received was not as many as he received this month!

Mayumi Aso clenched her fists and subconsciously looked at the biggest contributor, her master Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide, who had experienced this kind of thing many times, was not surprised and just smiled and nodded.

Things are finally back on track, but it's still a long way to go before celebration.

After Kodansha and Bungeishunju joined forces, the pure literature magazine market has become a meat grinder in the past few months, with everyone coming and going, competing for traffic and readers.

And now that he has regained the initiative, Kitagawa Hide will not let them off easily.

Since it is a meat grinder, winning is obviously not the ultimate goal.

He had to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity to stab a few of his competitors to death!
(End of this chapter)